Not sure what Telogen Effluvium is? Hair loss – it’s a more medical term for your hair coming out after a significant shock to your system. It’s one side effect of a long term ICU stay AND a side effect of one of the life saving treatments I was on at Cedars-Sinai. You can guess from the title of this post that T.E. happened to me….

I know all the guys suffering from male pattern baldness are saying, “boo hoo to you.” but I had no idea what to expect.

I have A LOT of hair – it’s really fine by the strand but dense across my scalp. When I was in the hospital earlier this year, my hair was put up in a bun on my head and that bun didn’t come out for months. I had a big dread lock on top of my head by the time I was awake and aware of what was going on. I initially thought the hair falling out was a minor adjustment but I realized it wasn’t as the steady stream of strands came off my head. I lost more than half of my hair in the span of a month or two.

Below is the worst of the bald spots:

Before heading back to work full time, I had to decide – rock the “see through to my scalp” hair or give my head some cover until the hair grew out? I hate to admit it, but I couldn’t rock out with my scalp out. I had to cover it. In come the wigs….

I took a trip to Nigel’s Beauty Emporium and they were amazingly helpful. I never wore a wig for daily wear before, just a couple of hours here and there for costumes. They helped me pick a wig, showed me how to put it on correctly, and care for it.

I’m now, officially, addicted. Its so nice to be able to change my hair style in the blink of an eye. I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with different styles.

This is my favorite wig – I literally can’t leave the house without getting stopped by someone wanting the name of my hair dresser:

I’ve cut my hair in this style and am slowly growing it back out.

These are a couple I like quite a bit but are not my daily wear “work” hair:

I may post more about wigs and wig care resources I used to learn what to do.